Michael Noah was on vacation in Greece, trying to relax, when he realized the thermometer had hit 114 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat wave was part of the hottest month ever recorded on Earth.
“My children are now 13 and 15, and I want there to be a world for them,” he says. “Something has to give.”
As the project lead for furniture and product design at Winch Design, he’s in a position to help be the kind of change he wants to see. The company has been working with Summit Furniture on an updated line of furniture called Arc in Colour that’s built of sustainable, plantation-grown teak, along with fabrics made from recycled fishing nets and textile waste.
“We want to make a market for this,” he says. “People are a bit more conscious about sustainability.”
The idea is not so much to make furniture that looks like it came from recycled and sustainable materials, but instead to make furniture that looks luxurious while being crafted in a way that’s better for the planet. As of early August, Noah and his team were working with Summit to perfect the materials used to make the lounge chair, with plans to expand the Arc in Colour line into bar chairs, dining chairs and the modular-type sofas seen above. They’re still working on pricing, but Noah says it will not be a custom line. Instead, the idea is to make it accessible for lots of clients—since more and more yacht owners are making verified sustainable materials part of their project briefs.
“Before, it wasn’t in the forefront of their mind, but now it is,” he says. “We have a boat in London we’re delivering fairly soon, and the client is super involved. He wants to make sure everything is checked.”
